The present invention relates to a system for and method of connecting two bodies rigidly together.
Various kinds of hardcopy apparatus require systems for providing rigid connections between different components of the hardcopy apparatus. For example, to avoid printing defects, a printer carriage guide rod needs to be rigidly attached to a base support element. In addition, the attachment should be achieved without significant loss of straightness of the rod, which would also cause printing defects.
The Hewlett-Packard Design jet printer models 500, 500 ps, 800 and 800 ps as disclosed in European patent application 00118444.9 have spacing members between a carriage guide rod and a base support element, the spacing members having surfaces which are precisely machined in a jig to eliminate position errors between the rod and the base support element. The machining operation is relatively expensive.
Existing requirements and problems in satisfactorily attaching guide rods to their support elements include:
stiffening of the guide rod should be achieved with means occupying as small a space as possible;
guide rods themselves should have as small a diameter as possible for reasons of cost;
this leads to insufficient rod rigidity for reasons of low natural frequency (causing printing defects, such as xe2x80x9cvertical bandingxe2x80x9d), and also for excessive deflection (causing excessive pen to paper space change);
the system should allow the option of vertical adjustment without significant movement in the horizontal direction; this is either to correct inherent vertical bow of the rod (generally caused by deflection due to self-weight) or to deliberately induce curvature to compensate non-straightness of other elements of the guide system;
since the position of the rod relative to the base support is not well controlled, the system that connects these two bodies in space must adjust to fill the gap without causing significant deformation or loss of position of the rod (which must be precisely positioned to ensure printing performance);
the connection system should allow self-alignment of the six degrees of freedom between the two bodies;
as mentioned above, machining a connection surface in a jig to eliminate position errors between the two bodies is relatively expensive and, furthermore, does not allow possible adjustment to compensate for non-straightness of other elements of the guide system;
to avoid cost and cycle time in production, the connection system should not require the use of special tooling or a complicated adjustment process.
The present invention seeks to overcome or reduce one of more of the above problems.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus comprising first and second bodies and a connector system connecting the two bodies rigidly together, the first body having intersecting first and second bores and the connector system comprising a connector element and a retaining element, the connector element comprising a first connector portion located in the first bore and a second connector portion rigidly connected to the second body, and the retaining element being located in the second bore in retaining engagement with the first connector portion in the first bore.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of connecting rigidly together a guide member and a base support structure of a carriage guide arrangement of hardcopy apparatus comprising the steps of providing supports for the guide member at or adjacent its ends, and providing points of attachment at one or more intermediate positions between the supports by providing first and second intersecting bores in the guide member at each point of attachment, locating a connection system at each point of attachment, the connector system comprising a connector element and a retaining element, the connector element comprising first connector portion and a second connector portion, locating the first connector portion in the first bore, and rigidly connecting together the guide member and the base support structure by firmly securing the second connector portion of the connector element to the base support structure and by inserting the retaining element in the second bore to retain the first connector portion in the first bore.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hardcopy apparatus comprising a fixed supporting structure and a carriage guide arrangement comprising a base support fixedly mounted on first and second end supports and a carriage guide rod supported by the first and second end supports, the base support defining a track spaced from the rod, a movable carriage being arranged to move along the guide rod and the track, and a respective connector system being provided at one or more spaced locations along the guide rod to connect rigidly together the guide rod and the base support, the guide rod being provided at each the location with first and second intersecting cylindrical bores, at least the second bore being threaded, each the connector system comprising a connector element and first and second retaining screws, the connector element comprising first and second connector portions, the first connector portion having a cylindrical pin located in the first bore and the second connector portion having a through hole, the first retaining screw being located in the second bore in retaining engagement with the cylindrical pin in the first bore, the base support being provided at each the location with a threaded hole, and the second retaining element passing through the hole in the second connector portion and being located in the threaded hole in the base support whereby to rigidly connect together the guide rod and the base support at the one or more spaced locations.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector system for connecting a first body with intersecting first and second bores to a second body, the system comprising a connector element and a retaining element, the connector element having a first connector portion arranged to be inserted into the first bore and a second connector portion arranged to be rigidly connected to the second body, and the retaining element being arranged to be inserted into the second bore to engage the first connector portion in the first bore and to retain the first connector portion firmly in position.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of connecting rigidly together first and second bodies comprising the steps of providing first and second intersecting bores in the first body, providing a connector system comprising a connector element and a retaining element, the connector element comprises first and second connector portions, inserting the first connector portion in the first bore, inserting the retaining element in the second bore to engage the first connector portion and to retain it in the first bore, and firmly securing the second connector portion to the second body.